GIVING BACK
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R O TA R Y C L U B
Coronado Rotary Catalyst
for Ukrainian Relief By Jeanmarie Bond
The M/V Maersk Launcher typically berths at the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal when in port in San Diego between missions to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” 1,200 miles off the California coastline.
T
onight, a Ukrainian refugee family of five sleeps soundly in a compassionate Danish family’s home, not realizing that the Rotary Club of Coronado, thousands of miles away, served as the catalyst for their ultimate safety. This family’s refuge all started because of a weekly meeting of Coronado Rotary and has since mushroomed into so much more. In fact, Coronado Rotary recently issued a substantial grant to the Rotary Club of Holbaek, Denmark to ensure that other similarly displaced Ukrainian refugees can find shelter from the war-torn ravages of their beleaguered homeland. This story has so many twists and turns that it’s best to start at the very beginning. Coronado resident Bill Bartsch, a 22-year veteran of the US Navy Reserve, is a Senior Harbor Pilot with the San Diego Bay Pilots Association. Harbor Pilots are skilled marine navigators who guide visiting ships in and out of San Diego Bay. One of the ships Bartsch has maneuvered frequently over the years is the M/V Maersk Launcher, an
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CROWN CITY MAGAZINE
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